SINGAPORE, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Malaysian telecoms firm TIME dotCom (TCOM.KL) is selling a major stake in its data centre business to U.S. infrastructure investor DigitalBridge Group (DBRG.N) for about 2 billion ringgit ($437.64 million), the companies announced on Tuesday.

The deal, announced at a time of political upheaval in Malaysia, underscores booming demand for infrastructure assets such as data centres in Southeast Asia as investors are lured by their stable, long-term returns.

TIME will sell 49% of the ordinary shares and 100% of the irredeemable convertible preference shares in AIMS Data Centre Holding, and 21% of the ordinary shares in AIMS Data Centre (Thailand), according to the statement.

Proceeds from the stake sales will be partly used by TIME to pay a special dividend of up to 1 billion ringgit to its shareholders, TIME's Commander-in-Chief Afzal Abdul Rahim said in the statement.

The balance will be reinvested into TIME, he added.

The deal gave the AIMS business an enterprise value of 3.2 billion ringgit and compares to the 119 million ringgit TIME paid to buy it in 2012, according to the company. AIMS' current book value is 240 million ringgit.

"This strategic partnership allows us to crystallise substantial value from the investment we have made in AIMS over the years," Afzal said.

Shares of TIME rose 5.2% on Tuesday to their highest since Aug. 30 following the announcement.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the second quarter next year.

($1 = 4.5700 ringgit)

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